FRANKLIN, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CKE Restaurants, Inc. today announces they are giving Carl’s Jr. and
Hardee’s a shot at their solo careers and will create two separate,
distinct brands, under CKE. CKE will continue to maintain each of the
brands’ unique, “impossible to ignore” personas, while keeping the
quality, taste and value of the food firmly as the star.

A major step in this brand evolution comes today as CKE Restaurants
announces the selection of Havas Chicago as Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s
creative agency of record, responsible for digital, social, TV, radio
and OLV content needs for both brands. Using their unique content
creation model, speed to market and clear read on today's cultural
insights, Havas will build separate brand identities for Carl’s Jr. and
Hardee’s, starting immediately with Carl’s Jr.

“Carl’s Jr. has been, and always will be a brand that’s impossible to
ignore,” said Jeff Jenkins, chief marketing officer, CKE Restaurant,
Inc. “We are excited to partner with Havas, whose reputation for
breakthrough creative aligns perfectly with our vision for these two
brands moving forward, to put our great tasting food at the forefront of
the business.”

Carl’s Jr. is the first brand out the gate with a new multi-channel
campaign…and voice. The campaign, titled, “Call of Carl’s,” is powered
by the voice of actor Matthew McConaughey. Together, they embark on an
unapologetic crusade to create a “crave culture”. Carl’s Jr. will
leverage this behavioral phenomenon to create a manifestation and
vocalization of food cravings, specifically around the brand’s iconic
Western Bacon Cheeseburger.

The culinary team at Carl’s Jr. dedicate their lives to the art of food
and spent tireless nights trying to crack the code of crave culture.
Their attempt to understand the reasoning behind what we crave and when,
might one day point to the meaning of life. For now, Carl’s Jr. has
uncovered the existence of three distinct types of cravings: Craving
what the body wants, craving what the body needs, and a third craving
that's a hybrid. This third, known as "associative craving," occurs when
we yearn for food that has a rich, meaningful connection to a personal
experience. Teams in the Franklin, TN based headquarters reached a
startling conclusion when they combined a familiar voice with the visual
associations of Carl’s Jr.’s mouthwatering food, triggering a crave
calling for Carl’s Jr.

“The speed of marketing today is leaving brands and traditional agencies
behind,” said Jason Peterson, chairman and chief creative officer, Havas
Creative, U.S. “By shifting both our thinking and making from
‘creatives’ to ‘creators,’ we’re able to come up with culturally
relevant ideas, and create and execute them with immediacy. As a brand
that understands the need to be one step ahead of culture, CKE embraced
this model and knew this is what it would take to create inspired work
for both brands.”

Carl’s Jr. has been impossible to ignore over the past couple of months,
including new creative campaigns that put quality, taste and value at
the forefront. Recently Carl’s Jr. launched a three-second 'Big Game'
spot to support its first-ever Charbroiled Sliders menu launch and wooed
Amazon with a 24-hour Twitter storm of billion-dollar partnership ideas.
This momentum and support has led to the opening of Carl’s Jr.’s
flagship restaurant in Manhattan, in addition to the 23 new restaurants
opened in January, including international growth in Mexico, France,
Spain and Cambodia.

CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. (“CKE”) is a privately held company
headquartered in Franklin, Tenn. CKE is not a franchisor and conducts
substantially all of its restaurant activities and operations through
its subsidiaries. Carl’s Jr. Restaurants LLC and Hardee’s Restaurants
LLC own, operate and franchise the Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, Green Burrito®
and Red Burrito® concepts. Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s operate as one brand
under two names, acknowledging the rich regional heritage of both
banners. After recent international openings in Chile, Cambodia and
Kenya, Carl’s Jr. Restaurants LLC and Hardee’s Restaurants LLC now have
over 3,800 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 44 states and
43 foreign countries and U.S. territories. Known for its one-of-a-kind
premium menu items such as 100 percent Black Angus Thickburgers®, Made
from Scratch™ Biscuits and Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders™, as well as an
award-winning marketing approach, the Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s brand
continues to deliver substantial and consistent growth in the U.S. and
overseas. The Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s system is now 94 percent franchised,
with international restaurants representing 21 percent of the system.
For more information about CKE, please visit www.ckr.com
or its brand sites at www.carlsjr.com
and www.hardees.com.

About Havas U.S.

Havas U.S. is a progressive agency focused on being the most valuable
partner to the modern CMO. It offers a comprehensive mix of capabilities
that aren’t what you’d expect to find in a creative firm, such as
experience design, cognitive, data and technology. With Villages in New
York and Chicago, Havas U.S. brings nearly 2,700 of the most talented
people in the business. As the most modern, flexible and agile agency in
the U.S., Havas U.S. reinforces the following five key pillars in
everything it does: creativity, culture, community, consumer experience
and commerce. We are creators. We are data. We are social. We are ideas.
For more information, visit havas.com or
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